NBA playoffs: Fisher's year of pain, growth

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — He smiled. Laughed. Darn near cried.

With the first anniversary of a young child's cancer surgery and his own playoff heroics for the Jazz fast-approaching, Derek Fisher stood at the Los Angeles Lakers' practice facility and relived a gamut of gut-wrenching emotion.

That day at the New York hospital. The flight back to Utah. A 3-pointer for victory. The decision to leave Utah and return to Los Angeles. The booing. Newfound perspective on it all.

For more than a half-hour Monday, moving no more than a step or two the entire time, Fisher talked about twists and turns, pains and gains, spirit-crushing lows and faith-boosting highs.

As he looked a handful of inquisitors in their eyes, words flowed. He addressed the cynics. He spoke as a Laker, but slipped in an occasional "us" and "we" when referencing last season's Jazz.

It's the day after Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference semifinal series between Utah and L.A., two days before Wednesday's Game 2, and there's a lot on Fisher's mind.

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May 9, 2007, in the morning.

It's 10:30 in New York; 10-month-old Tatum Fisher is supposed to be undergoing surgery. She has retinoblastoma, a rare and life-threatening childhood eye cancer.

The little girl hasn't eaten in 10-plus hours. But another patient at New York Presbyterian Hospital has a heart problem, so there's a delay.

"Tatum's screaming and going crazy, and just in a lot of discomfort because she can't eat, she can't drink anything," Fisher said. "There was no way to really comfort her. She's tired. It was a whirlwind of a day."

And it was just beginning.

First, Fisher said he and wife Candace listened to "doctors explaining what they were going to have to do, and how."

They heard "how fragile things were."

Reality hit hard, but didn't really sting until separation.

"To me, that day," Fisher said, "the toughest was when we had to take her into the pre-op room and put her there for the last time, and not see her for five hours, basically, until they were able to come back and tell us things went great."

They did go well.

Before the family could fly back to Utah as pre-planned, however, there'd be more waiting — just to make sure the artery in which surgeons made their approach had healed.

Then it was onto a plane.

Charter flight.

"From there," Fisher said, "I just kind of ran out of gas and went to sleep for about an hour."

With nary a clue as to what would await when he awoke.